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We are reminded today that prayer does not consist in saying a lot of words, as if God somehow was deaf or forgetful! The First Reading reminds us that God's plans will not and cannot be frustrated. So our prayer is not a matter of giving instructions to God as to what he is supposed to do (for me).
Today's Gospel gives us what we call the Lord's Prayer. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus taught his disciples this prayer in response to their request to teach them how to pray. The Lord's Prayer is not just a formula to be recited (which is the way we often treat it) but rather a set of themes on which we should address God - not with the intention of telling him what we want but rather of asking him to help us do what he wants. "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done¡K" is at the heart of the prayer. And we ask that it be done "on earth" which is to say that we are asking that God's will be done by us here and now. And the words 'Our' and 'Us' are all-inclusive, not making a single exception, for in calling God 'our Father' we assert that we are ALL his children and hence all are brothers and sisters of mine. That is something to think - and pray - about.
The Lord turns His eyes to the just and His ears to their appeal.
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DAILY OFFERING
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Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day; my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings. Grant that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to You and to others. I also pray that all those preparing for marriage discover in Sacrament the source of Christ's grace for living a fithful and fruitful love. Amen.
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PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH
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INTENTION
That the mentally handicapped may not be marginalized, but respected and lovingly helped to live in a way worthy of their physical and social conditions.
Elaboration
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